After distancing himself from the social networking space, Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao appears poised to make a comeback. In a post on X, Zhao said he would be launching a new project called Giggle Academy. This is a free educational program designed to provide students in grades 1-12 with a foundational education through engaging, interactive games. According to Zhao, no crypto tokens (whether existing or new) are part of the project.

Last year, Zhao resigned as CEO of Binance after pleading guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering and sanctions laws. He may now face jail time, a decision that will be finalized around April 30, when Zhao will appear in court to receive the sentence.

Despite these legal uncertainties, Zhao decided to go ahead and launch Giggle Academy. Zhao is recruiting a small team, including faculty who can create digital content, to run the project and report directly to him.

“Building a high-quality, sticky education platform that is completely free and open to everyone is the most impactful thing I can do for the next chapter of my life,” Zhao explain on the official website of this virtual academy.

Zhao mentioned in the project’s white paper that the education project aims to provide opportunities for poor children in developing countries. In addition to basic school subjects such as languages, mathematics, science and biology, Zhao hopes to include subjects such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, finance, negotiation and entrepreneurship.

Zhao is focusing his attention on the gamification of learning — aiming to reward students with NFT badges, scores and rankings.

“Education is the foundation of everything in our world. My area of ​​expertise is building (team building) software platforms. We (with teams) can reach hundreds of millions of people. This is scalable, so the impact is huge,” Zhao further noted.

The former Binance CEO was released on $175 million (roughly Rs. 1,450 crore) bail in the United States after pleading guilty to money laundering violations in November. His request also included a $50 million (approximately Rs. 414 crore) fine and a requirement for him to step down as Binance CEO.